Impacts of migration on time allocation of those who remain at home in rural Nepal

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of migration on time allocation in work activities of left‐behind family members in Nepal with attention to gender and age. Based on Nepal's Labor Force Survey, we find that, in response to an outmigration of a family member, working‐age women allocate more time towards agriculture and domestic and care work, while the amount of time working‐age men and women spend on collecting water and firewood also rises. Migration also increases girls' and women's time in non‐agricultural responsibilities. Thus, migration generates a loss in household labour supply and reshapes household division of labour in labour‐intensive activities and traditional gender roles.

Impact of Migration on Time Use Pattern of Left-Behind Male and Female in Rural Bangladesh

“…The result of Bangladesh is in contrast to many developing countries such as China (Chang et al, 2011) and Nepal (Yokying et al, 2023), where migration increases the farm work and domestic labour of working-age females. This contrast can be resolved with two factors-remittance receiving and the size of the household members of rural Bangladesh.…”

“…This contrast can be resolved with two factors-remittance receiving and the size of the household members of rural Bangladesh. In the case of Nepal, Yokying et al (2023) revealed 97% of migrated households in their sample did not receive any remittance for the last 12 months. China's one-child policy reduces the household size and increases the work burden of females if any of the members migrate.…”

“…Therefore, how migration affects the time use pattern of left-behind members between labour and leisure is an open empirical question. Empirical study reveals that migration forces the left-behind members to reallocate time across different activities—off-farm, farm work, and domestic work (Chang et al, 2011; Mu & van de Walle, 2011; Xu, 2017; Yokying et al, 2023) and unpaid and paid work (Dávalos et al, 2017; Karymshakov & Sulaimanova, 2017). Moreover, the migration of the husband can affect the time pattern of the left-behind wife in farm labour, domestic and care work (Ghimire et al, 2021).…”